Eichaed b



(No Model.)

S. B. PERKINS.

CORNER PIECE FOR WAGON BODIES Patented Dec. 20,1881.

ATTORNEYS.

WITNESSES:

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RICHARD B. PERKINS, OF HORNELLSVILLE, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR OF TVVO- THIRDSTO DE LANOY FBEEBORN AND JOHN MILTON BROWN, BOTH OF SAME PLACE.

CORNER-PIECE FOR WAGON-BODIES.

' SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 251,278, datedDecember 20, 1881,

Application filed September 9, 1881.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, RICHARD B. PERKINS, ofHornellsville, in the county of Steuben and State of New York, haveinvented a new and usetul Improvement in Corner-Pieces for Wagon-Bodies,of which the following is a. full,

. clear, and exact description.

The object of my invention is to provide means whereby the boards ofwagon or car- IO riage bodies, and wagon-seats, and other singilar boxesand things may be securely joined at the ends to form square or roundedcorners without dovetailing, and without the use of nails, screws, orsimilar fastenings, and in I 5 such manner that the corners will beshielded and protected from every direction,the rounded corners beingrounded both upon the inside and outside of the box, or only upon theoutside, as desired.

My invention consists, principally, of metal corner-pieces made withinside and outside locking-bars or supports, which fit in suitablecut-away places and grooves in the side and end hoards of the box orseat, the said bars or supports being at right angles to the top andbottom plates for perpendicular cornersor diagonal thereto for divergentcorners where the side and end boards are inclined. The invention alsoconsistsin the manner of uniting the boards and corner-pieces, and ofthe combination of the grooved and cut-away or rounded side and endboards with the cornor-pieces, whereby square or rounded corners (insideand outside, or outside only) are formed, as hereinafter fullydescribed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part ofthis specification, in which similar letters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure l is aperspective view of a squarecornered box having my improvedcornerpieces. Fig. 2 is a perspective viewof one of the corner-piecesremoved. Fig. 3 is a detailed perspective view of a rounded box cornerformed wlth my improved corner-piece. Fig.

4 is a similar view, the corner being rounded both upon the inside andoutside of the box. Fig. 5is aperspective view of awagon-seat, rep- (Nomodel.)

resenting square and rounded corners formed with myimproveddiagonalcorner-pieces; and Fig. 6 is a detailed section, showing a boxcoversquare upon the inside, but rounding upon the outside, formed'with myimproved corner-piece.

In the drawings, A represents the cornerpieces, and B represents theside and end boards, of the box or seat. The corner-pieces arepreferably east of malleable iron, and are formed with the outsidelocking-bars or supports, a, for the ends of the boards, the insidelocking-bars or supports, 11 b, and the top and bottom plates, 0 c,which are of a width about equal to the thickness of the boards, theoutside bars or supports being formed upon the outer edges of the plates0 c, and the inside 6 bars or supports are formed upon the inner edgesof the said plates, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. The outside supports, aa, are preferably joined or formed of a continuous plate of metal andmade angular, as shown in Fig. 2, to form a square corner, or rounded,asshown clearly in Fig. 6, to form rounded corners. If the side and endboards, B B, are tostand perpendicular or at right angles to the bottomboard, 0, as shown in Fig. 1, the plates cc and the outside and insidebars or supports, a a and b b, are to be formed at right angles to eachother; but if the side and ends boards are to be inclined the said barsor supports are to be made diagonal'to the plates 0 c, as shown in Fig.5, to suit the desired inclination of the boards.

In making a square-cornered carriage body or box the ends of the boardsare cut away upon the outside, as shown at d, and formed with. thegrooves 0 upon the inside, which cutaway places and grooves come againstand form good joints with the outside and inside locking-bars orsupports of the square cornerpieces. 0

In forming a box the corners of which are to be square upon the inside,but'rounded upon the outside, the ends-of the boards, instead of beingcut away as shown at d, Fig. 2, are rounded oft upon the outside to fitthe inner 5 walls of the rounded corner-pieces, as shown in Fig. 6, theinside bars or supports, I), looking in the grooves c, as in case of thesquarecornered box just described.

In forming a box the corners of which are to be rounded both upon theinside and upon the outside, the ends of the boards are to be formed thesame as in the case of forming the square-cornered box, except that thedistance between the cut-away place (I on the outside and the groove 0on the inside is much shorter, thus leaving the inner rounded wall ofthe corner-pieces exposed,not covered by the boards, as shown in Figs. 4and 5. For this latter form of corner I prefer to cast the corner-pieces with the ribs ff upon the inside for the ends of the boardstoabut against, as shown in Figs. 4and5. Instead offorming these ribs asshown in these figures, leaving a vacant space between them, which isadvantageous only when light corner-pieces are desired, the portion ofthe corner-pieces between the ribs may be made solid, of a thickness ofmetal equal to the width of the top and bottom plates, thus makg acontinuous, smooth, and perfect corner a! hen the boards are in place.

In setting the body up (one with four sides) it will be found, afterlooking the boards in three of the corner-pieces, that in completing thefourth corner the end of the last board will not pass between thesupports a and b of the corner-piece. To overcome this difficulty I makethe groove 0 in one of the boards about double'the width of one of theoutside lookingbars or supports, a, so as to permit the end of the boardto pass the edge of the outside support in position so that the boardmay be shoved longitudinally into place, the whole being then keyedtogether by the strip h, secured in the wide groove e, between the inneredge of the inside support and the head or offset g, formed by makingthe groove in the board, as shown in Fig. 1. The edges of the boards arereduced, as plainly shown at i in Fig. 2, to receive the top and bottomplates, 0 c, of the corner-pieces, in order that good joints may beformed therewith upon the edges of the box or body, as shown in Fig. 1.

In forming corners rounded both upon the inside and outside, where theboards are set on an inclineto the bottom board, 0, as shown at corner Din Fig. 5, the corner-pieces are made with the upper curved plate, 0, ofgreater len gth than the corresponding bottom plate, and the oppositelocking-bars or supports and the oppositeribs,ff, are not parallel witheach other, but are diagonal to each other, as shown. In

this'form of corner the ends of the boards are square across to fitagainst the ribs ff, as shown in said figure, which is an obviousadvantage in construction; but if the corner is to be made square, asshown at corner E of Fig. 5, the locking-bars are made parallel witheach other, and the top and bottom plates, 0 a, are of equal size, butare set diagonal to the line of the length of the locking-bars, as abovementioned. In this case the ends of the boards are not square, but aremade diagonal, as shown in said figure, and the grooves are madediagonally across the boards, to receive the inside locking-bars, asshown.

The offsets or locking-heads g, formed by making the grooves 0 acrossthe boards, when the boards are clamped and locked in the cornerpieces,prevent the withdrawal of the boards, and thus the boards are securelyconfined at the corners without dovetailing and without nails, screws,or other fastenings, and the corners are incased in a shield of metaland protected from all directions against injury, and are thus made verystrong and durable. Furthermore, the corner-pieces may be made highlyornamental, and the box or body is made at less cost of money and laborthan by the ordinary Way of forming the corners.

I do not confine myself to the use of myimproved corner-pieces formaking carriage boxes or bodies and carriage-seats, as they may be usedin like manner for making any boxes or other things where strong anddurable corners are desired.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent- 1. A metal corner-piece made substantially asherein shown and described, consisting of the outside and inside lookingor supporting bars, and of top and bottom plates, as and for thepurposes set forth.

2. A metal corner-piece for rounded corners, formed of the curved topand bottom plates, 0 0, inside locking-bars or supports, 1) b, outsidesupports, a a, and the ribs ff, substantially as described.

3. The boards B, formed with the lookingheads g, in combination with thecorner-pieces A, formed with theinside and outside lookingbars orsupports, substantially as and for the purposes described.

at. The boards B, formed with the groove 6, and the cut-away places (I,in combination with the corner-pieces A, formed with the out-sidesupports, a a, and the inside supports or look ing-bars b b, and the topand bottom plates, 0 c, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

5. The boards B, formed with the grooves e, and the wide groove 0, incombination with the corner-pieces A, and the removable key It,substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

RIOHA RD E. PERKINS.

Witnesses:

B. C. DE WITT, G. E. DRAKE.

